A/N: Since the Roommates sequel is taking longer than I anticipated, I hope this will appease those of you waiting for it.

Disclaimer: I was kidding about stopping. I'll just stop trying to get Kiba... and write something else... so...

If I owned Naruto... There would be a firefighter calendar... or a swimsuit calendar... or an underwear calendar... But because K. Masashi owns them... he'd probably use the girls... DOH! (Co-written by Fuzzy-Hime).

Speaking of Fuzzy-Hime, check out her signature on DevArt: ---Foolish little ototou, you still cannot beat me, why? Because your outfit lacks hatred... and style :flips Akatsuki Cloak for emphasis: pwned--- Heh... go Itachi.

... Anyway. Chapter. Enjoy :)

Naruto let out a long, exhausted sigh as he entered his house and threw his bag on the floor. He winced as he rolled his shoulder, having had debris fall on him at the first fire they'd been to. It had been another one by The Fan. Naruto was starting to hate him. The bastard was just so—bastard-like. Like his brother, Naruto thought dryly as he looked around his house. He still hadn't had time to clean it, and he suspected he wouldn't for a while.

After his second job the day before, he'd been so exhausted he'd passed out on his bed the second he'd landed on it. He'd woken up with barely enough time to get to the Station, and then was coming home right now. But, now he had to head to work again. His other job. The one that doesn't get hazard pay, he thought with a smirk as he stretched, headed for the stairs.

He reached the second floor and bypassed everything still on his floor, headed for his room. He stripped and took a quick shower before grabbing a pair of black pants and a white shirt, pulling them on. He grabbed his keys and cell phone before leaving the house, getting into Tsunade's car—he'd returned Kiba's and borrowed hers. The woman was like his mother, anyway.

He'd confronted Sasuke at work about everything he'd done, but the raven had just smirked and casually told him it would all go away if he transferred. Naruto had shot back that Sasuke obviously couldn't handle himself, since he looked so beat up. As retaliation, the raven—who was going to tell Naruto where his engine was—had decided to let the blond suffer without a car for a few more days.

Naruto drove slowly towards the Wal-Mart downtown, parking at one of the employee's parking spots before exiting the car and heading inside. He pushed through a large crowd and made his way to the back, punching in as he grabbed his nametag and vest from his locker.

He pulled the bright blue vest on, wincing every time he did because it looked so nasty. Putting the nametag around his neck, he nodded to Gaara's brother Kankurou before pushing through the double doors and heading towards Electronics. He still had five minutes, so he was going to use them for something fun.

"Hey, gorgeous. Guess whose ass I saved today." Naruto grinned as he leaned forward on the counter, looking at the girl on the other side.

She gave a huff as she filed her nails. "Gaara get into trouble again?"

"Aw, don't be like that about your baby brother." Naruto teased Temari Sabaku. "You're just jealous 'cause now he can hog me as often as you can."

Temari stuck her tongue out at him, but then smiled. She was glad that Gaara could see Naruto as often as she could, now. With the two of them working as firefighters, and Naruto working at Wal-Mart on the side, the two of them hadn't had much time to hang out. That, and the fact that Neji always got to Naruto before Gaara made it impossible for her brother to see him. She was beginning to feel bad for him. But now, thing were looking up.

"So, how was work?" Temari leaned forward, her eyes flickering to a bunch of kids who were staring longingly at a movie they obviously couldn't buy. She hated shoplifters, and silently begged they just stare and then walk away. She didn't feel like having any trouble today.

"Exhausting." She looked back at Naruto as he replied, his own eyes on the two boys. The highest cases of shoplifting always occurred in Electronics. "We had a killer fire set by The Fan. Wanna see my bruise?"

Before Temari could say anything, Naruto had pulled up his sleeve and angled his body so she could see the large purple-blue bruise on his shoulder. She winced.

"Ow."

"Yeah, it hurts." Naruto grinned as he pulled the sleeve back down. "But, you know, I'm used to—"

He was interrupted when the storewide speakers clicked and a voice echoed through the store.

"Electronics, page one-oh-five. Electronics, one-oh-five." (1)

Naruto was about to leave and let Temari work, when he frowned and thought for a second. "Wait, isn't Electronics one-oh-five?" he inquired.

Temari smirked as she picked up the phone and hit three buttons to put what she was going to say over the store speaker. "Warren, Electronics is one-oh-five. Again: Warren, Electronics is one-oh-five." She hung up the phone.

"Oh, you're dead." Naruto teased. She just shrugged as they heard Warren again.

"Electronics, page one-seven-oh. Electronics, one-seven-oh."

Temari picked up the phone. "You in Customer Service today?"

"No, Cash. Number Twelve." the blond replied as he walked backwards, headed towards the front to start working.

"Okay, I'll call you."

"You do that." Naruto grinned before turning and jogging towards his cash before he got himself fired.

Sasuke parked his motorcycle a little ways away from the blond idiot, who'd parked really close to the door. What, walking a few extra steps is exhausting, dumbass? Sasuke thought with a smirk as he pulled off his helmet and placed it on his bike before stealthily following the blond into the Wal-Mart. Honestly, how the blond hadn't noticed Sasuke following him all this time, he didn't know, but he was beginning to suspect he was an idiot. Beginning? Didn't I already establish that he's a dumbass? He smirked to himself.

As he went through the doors, he lost sight of the blond, and silently cursed. He'd been following him to see what sort of things he'd buy to pay Sasuke back for the pranks. Now that he'd lost him in such a huge store, there was no way he'd find him again. Shit, he cursed silently, looking around for a head of shockingly blond hair. He didn't find one.

"Shit, now what?" he pondered aloud, crossing his arms and just standing in the entrance.

After a few seconds, he just sighed and was about to leave when something caught his eyes. He walked towards a bunch of water guns and a devilish smirk crossed his face. Maybe walking into this store hadn't been a bad idea, after all. If the blond was going to find his revenge in here, Sasuke could at least start planning his counter-attack, right? Right.

So, Sasuke grabbed a basket and began to make his way through the store. Were this anyone else, he would've been whistling a nameless tune and smirking like a madman, but this was Sasuke Uchiha, so he just settled with letting the corners of his mouth turn up ever so slightly.

It took him less time than he thought going through the store, but by the time he was done, his basket was full. Turning, he headed back for the front and the cashiers, walking along to find a fairly empty one. He was in luck as he noticed one that had no customers, but what he didn't notice as he began to place things on the conveyer—was the head of shockingly blond hair he'd been looking for earlier.

Naruto, for his part, had had his back to the conveyer when Sasuke had passed by. He'd been looking at something else, but had caught sight of the raven in a window further away from his cash. His eyes had widened as he'd noticed Sasuke turning and beginning to place things on his conveyer. Oh, no fucking way! Naruto thought angrily as he grit his teeth. I can't escape from this guy!

With an annoyed sigh, Naruto turned and began to ring things through.

"Find everything you were looking for to prank an unsuspecting and undeserving victim, sir?"

Sasuke froze before his eyes slowly rose to lock with angered blue eyes. Naruto hadn't paused in his ringing through of Sasuke's items, but he wasn't looking at what he was doing. He'd been working at Wal-Mart since he was sixteen, he didn't need to look.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke finally asked, his voice cool and devoid of emotion.

"Working, duh." Naruto snapped as he continued to put Sasuke's things in bags.

"Don't you work at the firehouse?" Sasuke asked again as he continued to put things on the conveyer belt.

"Some people aren't rich and need to work more than one job to pay the bills." Naruto snapped.

Sasuke said nothing as he continued to place his items on the conveyer. Once they were all on, he put the basket down in a corner where other baskets were placed, and waited for Naruto to finish.

"That'll be sixty-seven ninety." Sasuke paid without a word, grabbing his bags as Naruto counted out some change.

"Keep it." Sasuke replied as he began to walk away.

The raven suddenly felt someone shoving their hand in his back pocket and he jerked around sharply, stunned to find Naruto behind him. The blond had just returned his change.

"I don't need your charity." he spat before turning on his heel and returning to his cash to serve the next customer.

Sasuke let out a grunt as he headed for the exit. It wasn't until he was half-way through the parking lot that he realized he'd come to Wal-Mart on his bike. He cursed.

Naruto walked into Station Seven, nodding to a few people from the previous shift before heading into the main room. He walked to the bunk-room and dropped his bag onto the bed second closest to the door before stretching.

"I hate night shifts." Kiba grumbled as he entered the bunk-room and threw his bag onto his bed. "I never get into REM sleep when we have night shifts. I mean, who the fuck is up and burning shit at four in the morning? Honestly!"

"Arsonists." Naruto smirked as he pulled off his shirt.

"Smartass." Kiba grumbled before yawning. "Shit." He shook his head before glancing at his watch.

It was close to eleven at night. Kakashi's shift was going to be working from eleven to seven in the morning. Because it was night, they were going to be sleeping until they heard the intercom wail that they had to get up. None of them were too concerned with missing a fire, since Sasuke barely ever slept. That, and most of them were light sleepers. They'd never slept through an alarm before.

Sasuke entered the bunk-room, hitting his shoulder against Naruto's as the blond was leaving with Kiba. Naruto let out a small cry before clutching his shoulder. It had been the one he'd gotten bruised the day before.

He turned to glare at Sasuke, but the other man had turned his back on them, heading towards the bathroom. "Jerk."

"What?" Kiba turned to him with a frown as they entered the main room andthe brunetteheaded for the fridge to grab something.

"Nothing." Naruto grumbled.

"Naruto." Gaara said as he passed him.

"Hey." he muttered before the redhead disappeared into the bunk-room.

"What's troubling you, man?" Kiba asked as he took a swig of his drink—Naruto suspected it was orange juice.

"Nothing. I just feel that—every time I even look at him, I piss him off. No matter what I do, it's like he thinks I'm a waste of oxygen or something." he grumbled annoyed.

"Gaara's like that about everyone." Kiba insisted, taking another sip of his drink.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Gaara? Gaara and I get along great, always have. I was talking about Sasuke." Kiba paused.

"Oh. Well—he's like that, too." Kiba said before downing the rest of his drink.

"No, I'm serious. What the fuck is his problem with me? He's got this whole 'holier than thou art' attitude."

"'Holier than thou art'?" Kiba smirked. "Who are you, Shakespeare?"

"You know what I mean." Naruto snapped.

The brunette sighed, running his hand through his hair before walking towards the table and spinning a chair around, sitting on it backwards.

"You have to understand something about Sasuke, Naruto. He doesn't like getting close to anyone, because they always die. Especially in our line of work. It took him forever to warm up to Kakashi when they were younger, and I must've bugged him for a solid year before he even began to consider me as a type of friend. Albeit, a very loud and annoying friend, but I was still a friend. He regrets letting me in. He regrets letting anyone in, because he knows that at any time, they can up and die on him."

"Doesn't mean he has to be a cold bastard and break into my fucking house." Naruto snapped.

Kiba sighed, folding his hands together. "I'll be honest with you, man. I think you scare him."

Naruto's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Scare him?.!"

"You're likeable. You pull people in. You're like—ice cream. You always say 'just one bite', but you can't help coming back for a second one, you know?" Kiba turned to look at the door to the bunk-room. "I think Sasuke is scared that if you stay here too long, he'll want to take that one bite, and then it'll turn into two, and then three, and—you know how it goes. You'll become friends, and he'll have yet another person to lose."

"I'm not asking to be his friend." Naruto said dryly. "I'd just appreciate it if he'd not pull pranks on me when I'm trying to keep a deranged murderer in jail."

"He doesn't know how else to get rid of you." Kiba insisted.

Naruto was about to open his mouth to argue when Sasuke stormed out of the bunk-room, a look so threatening on his face that Kiba propelled out of his seat and backed up slightly. Naruto, for his part, stayed where he was, his eyes fixed on Sasuke.

"What did you do?" The raven stopped a few feet from Naruto, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides.

"Whatever do you mean?" Naruto asked innocently. He was pulling it off quite nicely, too.

"You know what I mean!" Sasuke hollered, something which, in and of itself, made Kiba jump.

He'd never seen someone rile Sasuke up this much. Heck, the purple-faced look Sasuke was sporting right now was a rare occurrence usually only reserved for Kakashi. To have that particular shade while facing Naruto made Kiba almost scared to ask what this was about.

"Oh, you mean my payback?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing. "I have two jobs, and no spare time. My house is still full of your pranks because I haven't had any fucking time to clean it! You mess with me, expect to be messed with in return!"

Naruto stood and shoved his way past Sasuke, wincing as he realized he'd shouldered the raven with his sore arm. He slammed into the bunk-room, leaving Sasuke livid in the kitchen. Kiba swallowed hard and began to inch to the side when Sasuke's gaze locked with his. Kiba could've sworn the raven's eyes had turned red with anger.

"Did you help him?" he hissed.

"No!" Kiba exclaimed, his eyes wide with panic. "No way, man! I wouldn't!" He waved his hands out in front of himself frantically.

"Hn." Sasuke turned, headed back for the bunk-room.

"Um, wh-what did he do?" Kiba asked nervously.

The raven turned to him and he flinched, but relaxed when he realized he wasn't going to be attacked.

"Let's just say my uniform is better fit for a two year old now." he spat before also disappearing into the bunk-room.

Kiba stared at the closed door incredulously. No shit, Naruto shrunk Sasuke's uniform? he thought before bursting out laughing. He shook his head as he headed towards a white-board in the corner and erased everything that was written under their shift. It had all been done, anyway. He picked up a marker and began to write when Kakashi entered.

The Captain stared at Kiba's back, frowning, before walking over to the brunette and looking over his shoulder. "Sasuke, one. Naruto, one. What is this?"

"A prank tally." Kiba grinned as he replaced the pen.

"No way." Kakashi's eyebrows shot up. "He retaliated?"

"He sure did." Kiba replied, turning to his Captain. "He shrunk Sasuke's uniform."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"He has a death wish."

"I don't know." Kiba admitted with a frown. "He's got Gaara on his side, so I wouldn't mess with him. Uchiha's smart enough to know not to mess with Gaara, too."

"I suppose." Kakashi said with a frown. "Come on, we better get to bed before our first call."

"Sure thing, boss." Kiba bounced towards the bunk-room, Kakashi still looking at the white-board.

"Naruto, one, huh?" he asked himself with a hint of a smile. "Maybe there's hope for Sasuke after all."

He turned and headed for the bunk-room to get some sleep.

Sasuke lay on his back on the uncomfortable bed in the firehouse. He could hear the others around him sleeping, their breaths calm and even. He'd expected Naruto to be the odd one out and snore, but the blond was a surprisingly quiet sleeper when one considered how loud he was while awake.

Sasuke turned his head to regard the blond, a frown on his face. He was still pissed about his uniform, and had considered doing something to Naruto's bed, but thought better of it. He and Naruto may not have been on the best of terms, but they couldn't let that affect them while they worked. It was dangerous, not only for them, but for their co-workers, too.

Heck, the morning after Sasuke had pulled all his pranks on Naruto, the two had been sent in together and had acted as if nothing had happened. Naruto had molded himself to Sasuke's back, and the two of them had moved forward to put out the fire. They'd remained purely professional until they'd gotten to rehab, where Naruto had promptly begun to yell at Sasuke.

Naruto's own prank hadn't been destructive, either. The only time Sasuke ever used his uniform was when they had a dinner, or a firefighter died and they had to pay their respects. Otherwise, the uniform sat peacefully in his locker.

The raven's frown deepened as he found himself staring at Naruto. He hastily turned away and growled to himself. Why was he staring at the blond idiot? He hated him! He knew he hated him, because every time he looked at him, he felt something in his chest clench. If not hatred, then what was it?

Sasuke heard a small moan and he frowned, turning to look back at everyone in the room. The moan happened again and his eyes zeroed in on Naruto. His eyebrows were down in a frown and his breathing had become slightly erratic. He turned his head to one side before turning it sharply to the other, his hands clenching the sheets. The blond rolled onto his side, facing Sasuke, and the raven watched him, concerned, as the blond began to shake. He was still fisting the sheets, holding onto them as if his life depended on it.

The blond began to whimper and tears squeezed themselves from his eyes, and still, Sasuke stared. Is he having a nightmare? What should I do? He found himself struggling between helping the blond and just ignoring him. When a sob escaped from Naruto's throat, Sasuke felt his heart twinge and he sighed, getting up. He couldn't let the blond live through whatever nightmare he was in. Not when Sasuke himself knew what it was like.

He bent down beside Naruto's bed, his hand on the blond's bare shoulder. He noticed the large bruise, but ignored it as he found his hand had dampened with the blond's sweat. Whatever this nightmare was, it was bad. Sasuke had to wake him up.

"Hey." He shook Naruto. "Hey, Naruto. Wake up."

The blond whimpered and curled in on himself even more. Sasuke shook him again, harder this time.

"Oi, dumbass, wake up!"

Naruto shot up in bed, almost hitting Sasuke in the face, but the raven moved at the last second. Naruto breathed hard as he stared at his shaking hands, clenching them into fists to make the shaking stop. He was confused as to why he'd woken up. He had the same dream almost every night, and he was always forced to live through it all before he woke up, but this time, he still had at least a few more minutes before he was due to awaken, so why—His eyes locked on a pair of onyx ones.

Oh, great, Naruto thought annoyed. He's seen me have a nightmare, and now, he's going to make fun of me. Fantastic.

When Sasuke was sure Naruto was awake and back to himself, he stood and went back to his own bed, lying down and turning his back to Naruto. The blond, for his part, just stared at him. What, no tease? No joke? Nothing? he thought, confused.

"Why?" he whispered.

There was no answer for a few seconds, but Sasuke clenched his fists in his own sheets, gritting his teeth as he answered. He'd give the idiot that much.

"Because I know what it's like to wake up alone after a nightmare that makes your whole body feel like it's being ripped apart." he replied in the darkness.

Both men then turned their heads in the direction of the bunk-room door as the intercom popped, announcing a new fire. Their night was just starting.

Kakashi coughed into his mask, feeling the hot air blowing into his face. He was running out, and he knew the signals telling him it was time to leave would go off soon.

"Blade, how you doin' on air?" he called over his radio to Zabuza, who was pressed up behind him. The other man checked his tank.

"Probably got about as much left as you do. Time to pull out?"

"Yeah. Arrow, Scarface, you copy?"

"Roger that, Scarecrow. We'll start headin' in." Genma replied.

Kakashi turned off the hose, Zabuza almost toppling him over because he was still leaning against him, and the two of them turned to exit the building. As they crawled past a wall, Kakashi stared through the thick smoke and grime and noticed a Fan burned into the plaster. He let out a growl, knowing it was almost pointless to put out this fire, since they'd have to put it out again anyway.

"Guys, I just saw our good friend The Fan's emblem on the wall. Get ready to leave as soon as the fire's out."

"Roger that." Gaara said over the radio. "I'll pass the message on to the other Engines."

"Thanks, Sandman."

The two of them continued to crawl when Kakashi got an uneasy feeling. He felt really heavy—much heavier than he had a few seconds before. And it seemed the room was getting hotter, though he couldn't understand why.

"You feel that, Scarecrow?" Zabuza's voice made Kakashi jump, because he hadn't been expecting it.

"Yeah, I feel it." he replied, looking around.

Neither could pinpoint the source of their unease, but it made the two of them move faster. They were pretty far into the building, and Kakashi's mask began to vibrate, warning him he had five minutes of air left. Zabuza's started vibrating a few seconds later.

Suddenly, all the hairs on the back of Kakashi's neck stood on end, and the firefighter turned sharply to stare into the darkness in the direction of the fire. He'd encountered this feeling only once before, and he knew what it was now. But unlike last time, he wouldn't get out of it.

"Oh my God, flashover (2)." Kakashi breathed into his radio.

"Run!" Zabuza hollered.

The two of them stood and bolted down the long corridor, neither concerning themselves with the heat of the flames around them. By standing up and running, they risked getting nasty burns. By continuing to crawl, they would die. It was as simple as that.

Genma and Raidou were yelling at them over the radio, asking what they should do—other than pull out, of course. Their Captain was inside, so they needed to know whether he wanted them to help him get out, or just wait outside for the inevitable.

In their panic, the Captain and his firefighter forgot the most important rule of all when entering and leaving a house on fire—keep track of the hose. The hose is the only means of finding the exit, and since they'd stood up, the two of them ended up in a completely different area than they were meant to be in.

A dead end.

Kakashi ran up to the wall and pounded on it. His breath was coming harshly now, and he could hear his mask buzzing, indicating he was desperately running out of air. Zabuza himself just looked around as he silently calculated how much time they had. Less than five seconds, if he was right. They'd been lucky enough to identify the flashover before it actually happened. This was rare. And by rare, it really meant it was almost impossible.

Zabuza looked up and saw a window, and in a split second, the bulky man came to a decision. If Zabuza was going to die, he was going to die alone. Kakashi wasn't coming with him.

With this in mind, Zabuza grabbed his Captain and put one of Kakashi's feet in his hands. The Scarecrow stared at him, stunned.

"Take care of the new kid." he grunted as he raised his arms with all his might, sending Kakashi flying through the window a mere second before the entire place went up in flames.

"Kakashi!" Sasuke hollered as he ran towards his foster brother, the Captain himself staring wide-eyed at the broken window he'd sailed through.

Zabuza was still inside. And by the way his anguished screams of pain had been cut off, Kakashi could only assume he had died.

The firefighter known as Blade was no more.

(1) One-oh-five, or any other number, is basically the extension number for a specific phone in a specific section.

(2) A flashover is when all combustible material in an enclosed area ignites all at once. This happens when the majority of the surfaces in that area are heated to a point where they give off flammable gases, which are hot enough to ignite. What will happen is that when the gases are hot enough, they will ignite and then every surface in that room will go up in flames. It'll basically go from pitch black to "you are now entering hell" in a matter of seconds. EVERYTHING burns, and that includes firefighters and their bunker gear. It's nasty shit. It's also a natural occurrence, it can't be created like a backdraft.

A/N: I hope you guys liked the new chapter... despite the angst... :sweat: Oh, come on! It's ME! You HAD to have known there would be angst! It's my style! Humour and angst!

I'm done. Sorry, I've had too much sugar today :sweat: Hope you guys liked it.